How I saved $27,000 a Year Using an Updated Cloud Solution

Oh, yes, I did. And while my business is healthy and growing, it isn’t a massive corporation — we notice the difference in $2,281/month. Now you’re wondering: What was the change? Can I benefit from a similar decision? You very well might.

There’s even more to appreciate here. We’re not just saving $2,281 each month. We used to pay $2,318. Not a typo — we turned an over $27,000 a year expense into $37 a month in pocket change, and we got a more robust, reliable solution for just one tool in our technical backbone.

How did we do it? We asked our certified cloud solutions architect to examine our technology options.

We’re a tech company, so that kind of analysis is second nature to us, but even for us, the technology and the market are changing so fast that these kinds of opportunities are out there. Over a series of months those changes add up to an environment that offers opportunities that are vastly different than we the way were doing it. If we don’t get better, smarter, faster every day, our competitors will do it instead and we’ll be left in the dust.

If you have to make technology or financial decisions, you may find yourself having one or more of these discussions in your head:

Head in the Sand – Technology is somewhat important but not urgent to me. I’ll just let someone else initiate that discussion when it’s needed, because I don’t even know where to start. It’s working…why question it?

Not My Skill Set – It’s not really my job to share the latest technology with the organization. I know it has to work so I can keep generating revenue, and I want to balance that with the expense and my risk tolerance. Fortunately, I have someone who looks after that for me.

Been There, Done That – I’m tech savvy, and we made a great decision with our last technology choices. I’m comfortable with the cloud and we already have solutions in the cloud. And we’ll look at our options again in a couple of years.

Switching and the Myth of Tech Experts

Even if you fall into that third category — you’re comfortable with the cloud and you can explain why you made your last tech decisions — you may still be missing out. Any change can feel daunting, and when a technical decision has recently been made, we have a tendency to put that problem aside until a situation forces us to re-consider it.

But today’s advances in cloud technology mean you need to stay on top of the opportunities available to you — for cost savings, better security, and better business strategy than you may have with your current hosting, storage and security plan.

Is your technology resource specifically trained in architecting cloud solutions customized for your business needs? Do you know how to evaluate the sophisticated cloud options available today?

Which brings me to: you don’t know what you don’t know. Did you know that there are now certifications for cloud experts? A cloud architect can help you decipher and translate the language, the lingo, and the information you need to make the best decisions for your business.

Even if you use the cloud, you can definitely do better for your business. Putting hosting and security into a cloud solution can decrease your costs, increase your speed, and ensure you always use the latest technology. You can right-size your capacity on the fly, sort of like just-in-time manufacturing, but for computer server access. Believe it or not, it is almost certain to increase your security, as well.

What events should remind you to take another look at the cloud?

Need for a better storage solution

Disaster planning

Need for 24/7 uptime

Concerns about ransomware, hacking, or other security issues

Contract renewals for current services

It’s been 6 months or more since you evaluated your technology stack.

Be Nike … “Just Do It”

Look for a trigger event to get started.

Hire a certified cloud solutions expert who stays current with the most recent technology.

Bytes of Knowledge designs and supports marketing technology, network infrastructure, e-commerce and cloud-based solutions. We show you how to balance risk, investment and expense to achieve your revenue, availability and security objectives. If you’d like to know more, visit www.bytesofknowledge.com.